Authors: Ian Wilkinson; Louise Young
Change is endemic in relationships and networks but is insufficiently theorised.Theories of cognitive balance and imbalance are useful means for more deeplyanalysing the evolutionary process that characterise networks. Theories of balanceposit that certain types of connections between actors represent balance and thatbalance minimises or eliminates systems? stresses and hence dramatic change. Toillustrate the properties of balance, this paper reports the findings of a case studyfocussing on the attitudes of service-providing employees and managers within alarge Australian company and their evolution. Qualitative network mappingtechniques are used to set out the key components and connections between those inthe internal network, as perceived by employees and management. Comparison of themanagement versus employee perceptions of the internal network shows substantialdifferences in the structure of the perceived network and the nature of the linkages. Inall cases the networks are balanced but for quite different reasons. The implicationsof these differences for evolution of the internal networks are considered. The papercloses with a discussion of the value of theories of balance as an analytical anddiagnostic tool for relationships in networks.
Journal: ( – )
Web Address:
Publish Year: 2004
Conference: Copenhagen, Denmark (2004)